Department of Botany & the U.S. National Herbarium The Plant Press New Series - Vol. 16 - No. 4 October-December 2013 Botany Profile Frondly Focused on Ferns By Gary A. Krupnick he Department of Botany recently collections he personally contributed pri- student. Not happy with this deci- hired two new curators. Eric marily stem from trips to Jamaica, Cuba, sion, Schuettpelz had what he calls an TSchuettpelz, a systematic biologist and Central America. “awakening” in his junior year when he recognized for his work on fern diversi- Conrad V. Morton was trained took a plant systematics course taught by fication, has joined the staff as Research under the tutelage of Maxon. His initial Sara B. Hoot, a Ranunculaceae special- Botanist and Assitant Curator of Ferns, appointment at the Smithsonian was as ist. Schuettpelz recalls deciding right and Ashley N. Egan, a systematic biolo- an Assistant Curator of Phanerogams in then, as a naive undergraduate, that he gist with expertise in phylogenomics and the Division of Plants in 1939. In 1946, wanted to be a systematic botanist. Later bioinformatics, has been appointed as when the Division was reorganized as that year he began an undergraduate Research Botanist and Assistant Cura- the Department of Botany, Morton was research project with Hoot, focusing tor of Legumes. They both started in appointed Associate Curator of the Divi- on the biogeography of the windflower August 2013. The fern and legume hold- sion of Ferns. He held the title of Curator genus Anemone (Ranunculaceae) in the ings at the U.S. National Herbarium are of the Division of Ferns until 1970. Mor- Southern Hemisphere. large and significant. New curation and ton collected extensively in Guatemala, Schuettpelz received a B.S. in Bio- research will be highly beneficial. Egan Honduras, and the West Indies. logical Sciences in 1999, and continued and the legume collection will be profiled David B. Lellinger began as an her- on in Hoot’s lab as a master’s student, in a future issue of the Plant Press, while barium aide in 1960, and was hired as a investigating the phylogeny and bioge- Schuettpelz and the fern collection are member of the staff in 1963. He began co- ography of the marsh marigold genus profiled here. authoring articles about South American Caltha (Ranunculaceae). He recalls The fern collection at the U.S. ferns with Morton as early as 1966. Lel- ironically that as a child he would gather National Herbarium currently totals linger continued to build the fern collec- huge “cowslip” bouquets from the approximately 275,000 specimens and is tion, primarily with specimens from Costa ditches around his grandparents’ house. thought to be the largest fern collection Rica, Panama, and the Chocó in Colom- He completed his M.S. in Biological Sci- in the new world. Known for having an bia. He also published a landmark book, A ences in 2001. especially rich collection of types—just Field Manual of the Ferns & Fern-Allies It was during his time as a master’s under 5,500 catalogued type specimens— of the United States and Canada (Smith- student that Schuettpelz first got excited the collection results from a long history sonian Institution Press, 1985). about pteridophytes, thanks primarily of pteridological research at the Smithso- Gregory S. McKee, museum special- to Hoot’s collaboration with W. Carl nian Institution. Remarkably, the collec- ist, began assisting Lellinger in 1998, and Taylor, an Isoëtes (quillwort) special- tion has had continuous curation for over continued to oversee the fern collection as ist. Following conversations with Hoot, 100 years. acting fern curator after Lellinger’s retire- Taylor, and James P. Therrien (a postdoc- William R. Maxon built the fern ment in 2002. McKee will be assisting toral fellow in Hoot’s lab), Schuettpelz collection from almost nothing to over Schuettpelz in managing the fern collec- decided he wanted to pursue a Ph.D. 150,000 specimens in the early 20th cen- tion. focused on ferns. During this time, he tury. Maxon was initially appointed as an also learned of Kathleen M. Pryer (then aide in the Division of Plants of the U.S. ric Schuettpelz grew up in north- at the Field Museum) and was captivated National Museum in 1899 and eventu- eastern Wisconsin, and spent much by her work on fern evolution. ally rose to become Curator of the U.S. Eof his childhood outdoors explor- In 2001, when Pryer took a position National Herbarium in 1937, a position ing the woods. In 1995, he began his at Duke University, Schuettpelz joined he held until his retirement in 1946. The undergraduate studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee as a pre-med Continued on page 13 Travel Pedro Acevedo traveled to Bogota, Botanical Congress, and to collect plants (8/24 – 9/2) to deliver the plenary keynote Colombia (8/4 – 8/14) to present a talk in Colombia needed for research. address at the International Flora Malesi- as an invited speaker at the Colombian Ashley Egan traveled to China, Japan, ana Symposium; and to Madison, Wiscon- Botanical Congress; and to San Juan and and Thailand (9/1 – 11/18) with Matthew sin (9/26 – 9/27) as an invited speaker at Ponce, Puerto Rico (9/17 – 10/8) to speak Hansen to conduct field work, collect the University of Wisconsin-Madison. at the University of Sagrado Corazon and specimens, and visit various herbaria. Gary Krupnick traveled to Baltimore, to conduct field work on the floristic stud- Sally Eichhorn traveled to Palermo, Maryland (7/22 – 7/24) to present a talk at ies of Camp Santiago and Fort Allen. Italy (9/5 – 9/12) to attend the annual the 26th International Congress for Conser- Mike Bordelon traveled to Fargo, meeting of the council of the International vation Biology meeting. North Dakota (7/22 – 7/26) to give a pre- Association for Plant Taxonomy. Dail Laughinghouse traveled to sentation at a conference of the Associa- Bob Faden traveled to Bronx, New Svalbard, Norway (6/27 – 7/14) to conduct tion of Education and Research Green- York (7/7 - 7/13) to present a contributed field work on Arctic cyanobacteria from house Curators. paper at Monocots V: 5th International around the archipelago and to give a talk Barrett Brooks traveled to Curaçao Conference on Comparative Biology of aboard the ship Stalbas. (8/13 – 8/20) to participate with the Deep Monocotyledons at Fordham University. Paul Peterson traveled to Bronx, New Reef Observation Project (DROP). Christian Feuillet traveled to Leiden, York (7/7 – 7/13) to speak at Monocots Mauricio Diazgranados traveled to the Netherlands and Paris, France (7/29 V: 5th International Conference on Com- New Orleans, Louisiana (7/26 – 8/01) to – 8/16) to visit various herbaria as part of parative Biology of Monocotyledons give two presentations at the Botany 2013 the preparation of the treatment of the Pas- at Fordham University; and throughout conference; and to Bogota, Colombia sifloraceae for Flora of the Guianas. southwestern China (8/31 – 10/4) to col- (8/4 – 8/31) to coordinate the Symposium Vicki Funk traveled to New Orleans, lect grass specimens. of Biogeography of Neotropical Plants, Louisiana (7/27 – 7/31) to give a presen- Rusty Russell traveled to New to give various talks at the Colombian tation at the Botany 2013 conference; to Orleans, Louisiana (7/26 – 8/1) to chair a Bogota, Colombia (8/4 – 8/13) to attend session and deliver a paper at the Botany the Colombian Botanical Congress and 2013 conference. The Plant Press to collect plants in Colombia needed for Eric Schuettpelz traveled to New research; to Uruguay and Argentina (8/24 Orleans, Louisiana (7/28 – 8/1) to give an New Series - Vol. 16 - No. 4 – 9/3) to conduct fieldwork and present invited presentation at the Botany 2013 Chair of Botany talks at the Argentina Botanical Congress; conference. Warren L. Wagner to Palermo, Italy (9/5 – 9/10) to work Laurence Skog traveled to New ([email protected]) in the University of Palermo Herbarium Orleans, Louisiana (7/26 – 8/1) to attend Mediterraneum; to Durham, North the Botany 2013 conference. EDITORIAL STAFF Carolina (9/13) to attend a meeting at the Rob Soreng traveled to Bronx, New Editor National Evolutionary Synthesis Center; York (7/7 – 7/12) to speak at Monocots th Gary Krupnick and to Honolulu, Hawaii (9/26 – 10/5) to V: 5 International Conference on Com- ([email protected]) attend a graduate student committee meet- parative Biology of Monocotyledons at ing and to conduct field work on Molokai Fordham University; and to Klamath Falls, Copy Editors and Kauai. Oregon (7/20 – 8/10) to collect grasses at Robin Everly, Bernadette Gibbons, Rose Carlos Garcia-Robledo traveled to Crater Lake National Park and the Oregon Gulledge, Dail Laughinghouse Costa Rica (6/17 – 8/5) to teach a graduate Cascades. News Contacts course for the Organization for Tropical Alice Tangerini traveled to Bar Har- MaryAnn Apicelli, Robert Faden, Rusty Studies and to conduct field work along bor, Maine (7/7 – 7/13) to participate and Russell, Alice Tangerini, and Elizabeth the Barva and Talamanca elevational present a portfolio at the annual meeting Zimmer gradients; and to Portal, Arizona (9/18 – and conference of the Guild of Natural The Plant Press is a quarterly publication pro- 9/22) to give an invited plenary talk at the Science Illustrators; to New Orleans, Loui- vided free of charge. 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